


Garbage Disposal Unit

by Elenhin



Category: The Almighty Johnsons
Genre: Descriptive death of fish, Gen, The fish died.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-02
Updated: 2013-12-02
Packaged: 2018-01-03 06:31:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1067191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elenhin/pseuds/Elenhin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is one of the challenges that Aramirandme81 so generously gave me from her One Word At a Time series. </p>
<p>The word was Garbage Disposal Unit..  The line was, Val doesn’t understand the venom in Anders eyes as he sees her throw the goldfish into the unit, it was only a dead fish after all?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>However it is obviously so much more to Anders.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Garbage Disposal Unit

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aramirandme81](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aramirandme81/gifts).



> For Aramirandme81 
> 
> A little more angsty, and poor Anders. Thank you so much again for letting me do this, yes, I know I repeat myself here. ;) I hope you enjoy this.

Garbage Disposal Unit

 

“Where’s Anders?” Mike wants to know as Ty and Axl enters the dining room and sits down at the table. Both tend to be very eager and are not very likely to be late for supper while Anders is never really in a hurry. He is usually not late, because if he is he knows he won’t get any dessert. Valerie is very strict with that, they have to clean off their plates and be on time to get dessert. Though the clean plates only apply if they serve themselves which is why Mike often will take their plates and fill them.

 

Valerie is very strict but mostly with Anders who is the most fussy eater out of the whole lot of them. Axl will eat mostly anything, Ty hates to make a fuss and Anders sometimes thrives on fussing. He sometimes spends half the meal picking through his food but Mike can’t really blame him for that. Sometimes when she’s stressed Valerie still forgets that he is intolerant to certain foods so if Anders have the slightest suspicion there might be something he can’t eat in his supper, he will pick through the whole thing. On the other hand, Mike figures that is better than having him laid up with stomach pains for two days so he won’t say anything about it.

 

Sometimes though he’ll just stop eating halfway through and Mike still haven’t figure out why. Valerie shows no sympathy whereas their mum might start worrying about him being too thin and make him a sandwich. Valerie refuses to do that, and won’t let Mike do it either, so the only result is Anders not getting any dessert and being hungry later.

 

She sometimes bends the ‘no dessert’ rule for Ty and Axl though, claiming Axl really is too young to mind the time properly on his own, not to mention can’t be supposed to know how much he will eat. She can usually find some excuse for Ty as well, such as that he helped her and thus deserves the treat.   
  
She won’t excuse Anders though, and Mike knows it’s becuase she and Anders do not really get along all that well. So he will grab his plate, fill it with as much as he thinks Anders oughts to eat, and if he does not finish it, well, then at least Mike has a valid point to plead his dessert on. It won’t work if he’s much late for supper though, which really is a shame since they’ll be having ice cream today.

 

Now at his question Ty shrugs, “Uh, I think he’s gonna be a bit late,” he turns to Valerie. “We were just coming both of us, but he saw that one of his fish has died.”

 

“Aw crap,” Mike sighed. There were times when he really wished they had not given Anders that first goldfish. Fish were quite nice and he too would admit they were nice and relaxing to look at, but they had an unfortunate habit of dying for no reason on occasion. They’d do so quite randomly and there was no telling when.

 

“It’s just a fish and no reason not to be on time for dinner,” Valerie gives a disapproving frown towards the boys room. The house only had three bedrooms so while Mike and Valerie took the master bedroom Ty and Anders had to share. They were closer in age than Ty was to Axl so it made sense that way. They also got along really well which was an added bonus. Anders never pestered Ty about what he should or should not do, though he did tease him. Ty on the other hand was willing to put up with Anders idiosyncrasies and appeared to actually understand where they were coming from. Since they were all used to having their own rooms Mike had been worried about fights when they had to double up, but so far there had only been minor disagreements. Such as Ty not appreciating that Anders hid his questionable magazines in his brother’s sock drawer, though Mike could buy his reasoning that Val would never expect to find them there.

 

Valerie would get furious if she found them whereas Mike would even be willing to buy them for him if it just kept Anders from doing something stupid with the girls from school. He knew Anders was thinking about those things more and more and was just waiting for him to start experimenting in spite of his warmings.

 

Ty didn’t mind having Anders’ fish tank in their room, and he was generally sympathetic when any of the fish died. That was something Anders always took just as hard and Mike hated it. It meant his brother would be mooping for a day or two. He never could just shrug it off, the fish had to be buried in the yard, with a stick for a marker because Anders didn’t want Valerie to dig up the grave to plant flowers.

 

Valerie on the other hand was annoyed to have dead goldfish buried in the yard where she wanted to plant flowers and declared it was disgusting and not hygienic at all. She had urged Mike to make him stop, on the ground that Axl might come across it in play, after all he and Zeb did enjoy following made up treasure maps. Mike however was happy to let him bury them wherever he wanted to as long as he did it himself and Mike didn’t have to do it, like he had been forced to do with the guinea pig.

 

“He could deal with that later,” Valerie stated now. “He’s making us all wait.”

 

“Me and Axl don’t mind,” Ty quickly declared. “If he leaves them in the tank, the other fish will pick at them and try to eat them.”

 

“They’re like cannibals,” Axl declared proudly over knowing the word. “They eat their dead, even if they are rotting in the water and are all disgusting.”

 

“Enough Axl,” Mike urged. If he talked like that so Anders heard, he wouldn’t be able to make him eat at all. “Anders cares a lot about his fish, so be nice to your brother now, okay?”

 

“Okay,” Axl bobbed his head up and down.

 

“Well, he should still respect meal time,” Valerie stated. “He can’t do anything anyway, it’s pouring rain outside. It would be better if he just flushed it down the toilet and had it done with.”

 

Mike who knew there was no way to make Anders do that only shrugged. “We can start, and he can join us when he’s taken care of it. Kinda glad we’re having ice cream though, he can probably use something to cheer him up after,” he added the last to be nice to Anders. Because if he had a dead fish he really wanted to be nice to him, even if it meant the risk that Valerie was annoyed. If it was about their brother being sad though, Ty and Axl would be the ones fighting for it, and Valerie wasn’t likely to turn them down.

 

The kids had learned to gang up against parental figures when they considered something unfair, it was a lesson they had learned very well as children with their real mum. Axl partially due to his age tended to be slow on the pickup, but Ty was quick. He’d figure it out right away, and it wouldn’t surprise Mike at all if Ty started his own private ‘be nice to Anders’ campaign.

 

Ty understood Anders a lot better than Mike did, he could usually deal with his brother. So to keep things smooth he took Anders plate and heaped some lasagna on it before taking Ty’s and doing the same. He served Axl who was pretty much bouncing in his seat, demanding more. He did however allow Valerie to serve herself, but just as she reached for the serving spoon Anders came shuffling into the kitchen.

 

Mike could tell right away he was upset, as he had expected. He was carrying a plastic cup that he used for when cleaning the tank. Mike wasn’t sure what that involved exactly, but he carried the dead fish in the cup now.

 

“Anders, you know when we eat,” Valerie stated disapprovingly.

 

“Tammy died,” Anders shrugged, shoulders hanging and head dropping. “Had to take care of it first.”

 

“You can’t go out right now Anders, it’s pouring rain,” Mike put in softly. Understanding his brother, but he wished sometimes he could just keep things running smoothly without having to play negotiator.

 

“I can help you later, after we eat,” Ty put in, trying to help and Mike was grateful for it.

 

“Wouldn’t feel right,” Anders objected.

 

“Then we’ll take care of it now, and then maybe we can finally get to eat,” Valerie stood and took the cup from Anders. She turned on the garbage disposal unit and emptied the cup into it in one swift motion and Mike leapt to his feet. For a brief moment it looked as if Anders would jump forward and Mike nearly panicked at the thought of him trying to save the fish, putting his hand into the unit.

 

Anders did not, but Mike found himself covered in cold sweat for Anders had his hand out as if he had meant to do exactly that.

 

Anders opened his mouth as if to speak though, then closed it and glared at Valerie, his jaw a thin line.   
  
Pleased with herself for having solved the problem quickly she turned around only to be met with Anders’ cold stare. Val doesn’t understand the venom in Anders eyes as he sees her throw the goldfish into the unit, it was only a dead fish after all?

 

“Now can we eat?” she asked, putting the cup down and washing her hands. A dead goldfish is after all somewhat disgusting.

 

“The fuck I’m eating now!” Anders snapped and she spun around again.

 

“Watch your language. You’re already not getting dessert today for keeping us waiting. Do you want to make it a week?”

 

“Make it a fucking year if you want to,” Anders snarls and Ty is pale from worry while Axl swallows nervously and looks to Mike who for once have no idea what to do at all. He can’t bring himself to get mad at Anders, but he also knows he can’t side with him. Which means all he can do is wait and watch.

 

“Don’t take that tone with me!” Valerie raises her hand but Anders faces her. Then he spins around and walks with slow, deliberate and barely controlled steps towards the kitchen door.

 

“Anders, where are you going?” Mike stands now.

 

“I’m getting the hell out of this shit place,” Anders does not even turn around.

 

“Anders, it’s pouring rain and ice cold outside. You don’t even have a jacket, you’ll get sick,” Mike calls after him.

 

“Like we need you coming down with pneumonia again,” Valerie mutters and Anders turns around.

 

“Wouldn’t be so fucking bad for you, I’d die, and you’d be happy cause you’d know just what to do about it,” he gestures towards the sink with the garbage disposal unit that is still whirring since Valerie hasn’t turned it off.

 

“Oh, don’t be so melodramatic,” she snaps. “Go if you want, but don’t think I’ll be feeling sorry for you if you get sick. And you’re not getting any dessert or any privileges at all for a month.”

 

Anders walks out, slamming the door behind him and Axl drops from his chair to head over to Mike. Valerie mutters under her breath while Ty pokes at his food with a gloomy look on his face.

 

Mike knows Anders won’t be home again until after school the next day at the earliest, he does not know where he’ll go but he knows there is no way he can take the cold rain and not get sick. He is worried but there really isn’t anything he can do about it. All he can do is try to comfort Ty and Axl and hope that the worst Anders gets up to is catching a cold.

 

It makes him feel useless.

  
The End

 

Please comment, the Cricket is hungry, and wants eveyrone to read One Word at a Time by Aramirandme81

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Easily Disposable](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1147136) by [Aramirandme81](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aramirandme81/pseuds/Aramirandme81)




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